Heroes
by redcandle
Summary: A tale of Gryffindor idiots and Slytherin cowards. Oliver/Marcus.


Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and elements from the Harry Potter's series belong to J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.

There was no Dark Mark on Marcus's forearm but that didn't mean much. Only the highest ranking followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named received his brand, those who had been with him the longest and served loyally. Oliver tried not to think about what someone his age would have to do to earn one. Whatever it was, Marcus hadn't done it. He knew that much.

However he didn't know which side Marcus supported in this war. He had complained just as bitterly as Oliver when the Quidditch league shut down and he grumbled about the hassle it took to get anything done these days. But Oliver wasn't certain who he blamed. Marcus didn't like muggles and he was suspicious of muggleborns, but that didn't matter much to Oliver. A little prejudice was a long way from murder.

He could simply ask if Marcus supported You-Know-Who; he didn't think Marcus would lie about it. But he didn't ask because he didn't know what he'd do if the answer was affirmative.

Marcus eased his fears without any prompting one day. He stared out the window of Oliver's flat above an ink and parchment store and sighed. "Wish Potter would hurry up already."

"You want Harry to kill You-Know-Who?"

"You don't think I like living like this, do you?"

Oliver threw his arms around him and squeezed him tight.

"Get off me, you maniac."

"You remember Lee Jordan?" Oliver asked as they laid in bed that night. Neither of them was in the mood for sex but they weren't sleepy either.

"How could I forget him after all the names he's called me?"

"He does this radio program. Maybe we could help him. He asked me. Said people would listen because I'm a Quidditch player."

"No. It'll be one big annoying self-righteous Gryffindor circle jerk. I'm not going."

"You don't think we should do something?"

"Go be a hero if you want. I'm not risking my life. Do you know what the Death Eaters do to people who cross them?

"Slytherin coward."

Gryffindor idiot."

He didn't tell Marcus anything when he started working with the Order of the Phoenix. He suspected that Marcus suspected, but Marcus never asked him. There were spells he'd been too distracted by Quidditch to master at Hogwarts that he had to learn fast now, and there were little tasks that needed to be done without magic to make things easier for the people who really fought the war. He spent less and less time with Marcus.

Sometimes Marcus was waiting when he came home and sometimes he wasn't. Oliver would go to his place if he didn't find Marcus at his apartment. Sometimes Marcus was there and sometimes he wasn't. Oliver never asked where he went.

There was the lingering scent of a cologne neither of them wore when Oliver stopped by Marcus's place one night. "Damn, Marcus," he said quietly. "I'm trying to help put things right and you're shagging some bloke with bad taste in perfume behind my back."

"It's not like that." Marcus pulled a handful of tattered papers out from the stuffing of the sofa cushion. "Here. Give these to that loudmouth Lee Jordan."

Oliver skimmed the papers. "How'd you get hold of these?"

"You've got your friends and I've got mine."

When the war ended Oliver got a medal pinned on his chest by the Minister of Magic and Marcus got nasty looks in the streets from people who were certain he'd been one of Voldemort's creatures. Oliver stuck the medal on the headboard above the pillow Marcus usually used. Marcus said nothing about it, only complained that Oliver's feet were cold and would he please stop touching him with his feet.

"There's a party at "

"No."

"I wasn't going. Katie's in St. Mungo's again, the poor girl. I was going to see her. Want to come?"

"So she can call me a troll and accuse me of pulling her hair?"

"You did pull her hair!"

"She had the quaffle!"

"Not during a game; outside the Transfiguration classroom Sixth Year."

"I don't remember. But I'm sure I had a good reason if I did it at all."

"So are you coming?"

"Bet she looks funny in those hospital gowns. All right, I'll go."

The mediwizards hadn't been able to completely reverse the hex that had hit Katie and patches of her skin were still inside-out. She was in good spirits though and she sounded quite friendly when she greeted Marcus with a cry of "Troll loose in the ward!"

Alicia was there too and Oliver was pleasantly surprised when she smiled at Marcus and asked how he was doing.

"Good," Marcus answered her. "I guess you know?"

"I didn't know that you knew that I know."

Oliver had no idea what they were talking about and told them so.

"Oliver thinks you should buy your boyfriend a different cologne, Spinnet."

"That's a lovely scent, Oliver. You said it was nice when I asked you when we went Christmas shopping the year before last."

Oliver had always assumed that Marcus's mysterious friend was a Death Eater or someone close to being one. He'd never imagined that it was someone Alicia was involved with. "Who is he?"

Marcus shrugged. "Guess it can't hurt to tell. He doesn't plan on setting foot back in the country or anywhere else the Ministry can touch him. You remember Warrington?"

Oliver did remember him. He gave Alicia a disbelieving look. "I thought you hated him."

"It's complicated," she said.

"She hates him almost as much as you hate the troll," Katie told him.

"Would you stop with that, Bell. Don't think because you're in that bed I won't "

"Won't pull my hair?"

Marcus grabbed a handful of her lank blonde hair and Katie squealed and tried to scramble away. He caught her and pushed her back down on the bed. "Stay there or you'll irritate those wounds."

Katie stared up at Marcus and made no retort. She glanced at Oliver. "Ollie, want to share him?"

"Share? No. But I'll rent," Oliver teased. "How much have you got?"

"For a troll? A handful of bubble gum wrappers should be enough."

Marcus was smiling when they left and for once he didn't pull away when Oliver held his hand. People stared, but there was no hostility. For the first time in a long while Oliver felt like they were simply living, not struggling in a world of heroes and villains. They were all just people now.


End file.
